Railway-vehicle coupling.



H. A. HOKE.

RAILWAY VEHICLE COUPLING.

APPLICATlON FILED SEPT. 7, I916.

Patented Feb. 20,1917.

1 16i EL (invents a:

as a. no, or-amoone, r nnnsrnvairre.

RAILWAY-VEHICLE COUPLING.

naiaeea.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feh. @d, 193?.

Application filed September 7, 1916. Serial No. 118,797.

provide an improved draft, or load trans-- mitting connection betweenrailway vehicles and particularly between a railway locomotive and itstender. A more specific ob ject of my invention is to provide alocomotive and tender draft connection which will possess the strengthand security required by standard railway practice and governmentalregulations, and which will be free from certain practical defectsinherent in the constructions now in general use.

In the locomotive and tender connections now in general use the load isnormally. transmitted through a draw bar pivotally connected at one endto the locomotive by a vertical drawbar pin carried by the locomotive,and pivotally connected at the other end to the tender by a verticaldrawbar pin carried by the tender. Standard railway practice andgovernmental regulations require this bar to be strong enough to carrymuch more than the estimated maximum load. It is also required that'asupplemental safety connection he provided between the locomotive andtender which shall not be under tension but idle, so long as the drawbar is operative, but in case of fracture of the latter will form a loadtrans mitting connection between the locomotive and tender of suitablestrength.

In practice, this safety connection is formed by a pair of so calledsafety bars or safety chains, connected at their opposite ends to thelocomotive and tender re spectively one at one side and the other bar atthe other side of the longitudinal vertical central plane of thelocomotive and tender. To prevent the safety bars or chains from beingput under tension while the draiwhar is intact, slack be provided,andthis slack must be considerable to pro vent one or the other of tsafety bars or chains from hei u der tension in as consequence of thisconsiderable slack and the arrangement of the bars or chains at oppositesides of the longitudinal center line of the locomotive, in case ofrupture of the drawbar the whole load is put upon one only of the safetybars or chains when the locomotive is running around a curve, and whenthe drawbar fails while the locomotive is traveling in a straight linean appreciable movement between the locomotive and tender occurs beforethe safety bars or chains are put under tension.

This results in many cases in subjecting the safety connections to arupturing shock.

I avoid the difficulties referred to by employing a safety connectionhaving the axes of its pivotal onnection with the locomotive and tenderapproximately or exactly coincident with the axes of thepivotalconmotions of the drawbar proper to the engine and tender. In thepreferred practical embodiment of my invention I provide the foot plateof the engine and the drawbar pocket member of the tender with spaces toreceive the ends of a supplemental safety bar lying directly above orbelow the main drawbar, preferably the latter. and I connect the safetybar to the engine and tender by the same drawbar pins employed toconnect the drawbar thereto. To enable this supplementary bar to servepurely as a safety bar, one or both of the openings formed therein toreceive the provide sufficient slack so that the safety bar will not beput under tension while the drawbar is intact. The slack thus providedfor may be small in comparison, howeverf with that necessary with thesafety connections arranged as heretofore at opposite sides of thelongitudinal center line of the locomotive and tender, and the amount ofthis slack is practically the same when the locomotive is running arounda curve as when traveling in a straight line.

The various features of novelty which characterize-my invention arepointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to i and formingapart of this specification. For a better understanding of theinvention, however, and the advantages possessed by it, reference shouldhe had to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which Ihave illustrated and described a preferred bodiment.

@i thedrawings:

Figure 1 is a v ticalsection through a portion of a loco-in re and thedrawbar pins are elongated to about reduced lower portions D tion beingtaken along the longitudinal center line of the locomotive and tender;and

Fig. 2 is an end elevation of a portion of the locomotive shown in Fig.1 with the drawbar and safety bar in section.

In the drawings, A represents the foot plate of a locomotive and Brepresents'the drawbar pocket member of a locomotive tender. The membersA and B are provided with the usual pockets or spaces A and B,respectively, to receive the opposite ends of the usual drawba-r C. Thelatter is formed at its opposite ends with the usual eyes or openings Gthrough which pass the vertical drawbar pins D and E received in theusual bushed holes formed in the foot plate A and drawbar pocket memberB respectively. F represents the supplemental connection, or safety bar,which has its opposite ends extending into pockets A and B formed in thefoot plate of the locomotive and tho drawbar pocket member of the tenderrespectively.

The pocket A in the construction shown immediately beneath the pocket A,and the pocket B is beneath the pocket 13. The drawbar pins D and Eextend through the pockets A and B respectively and pass through eyes orapertures F and 15 formed in the opposite ends of the safety bar F. Asshown, the aperture F is elongated about as much as are the apertures Cin the drawbars C, while the aperture F in the safety bar is elongatedsomewhat more so that in the normal operative condition of the drawbarC, the safety bar F is not under tension; The slack provided by theextra elongation of the eye F should be only sufiicient, however, topermit a slight movement of separation between the locomotive and tenderbefore the safety bar F comes into in case the drawbar G ruptures.

Advantageously the bushings G for the lower ends of the drawbar pins Dand E are provided with inturned flanges G which fit and E respectiveiyof the drawbar pins D and E, and prevent the lower portions of thebodies of the drawbar pins from dropping out of operative relation withthe safety bar F in case the drawbar pins are broken where engaged bythe drawbar C. l) and E represent keys passing through the reduced lowerends of the drawbar pins to prevent displacement of the latter.

Whiie in accordance with the provisions ofthe statutes T haveillustrated and described the best form of my invention now known to me,it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that changes can be madein the form of the invention without departing from its spirit, and thatsome features of my invention can be used without a corresponding use ofother features of the invention.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination with two railway vehiclesto be connected, of a drawbar pivotally' connected at its ends thereto, and a supplemental safetyconnection also piyotally connected at its ends thereto, with the axisof its pivotal connection to each vehicle substantially coincident withthe axis of the pivotal connectionof the draw bar to .said vehicle, theparts being so relatively arranged that the draw bar connection, so longas it is operative, forms the load transmitting connection between saidvehicles.

2. The combination with two railway vehicles to be connected, of a drawbar, draw bar pins pivotally connecting the ends of the draw bar to saidvehicles, and a supplemental safety connectiou"connected by said drawbar pins to said vehicles with provision for lost motion whereby saiddraw bar forms the load transmitting connection between said vehicles solong as the latter are open ativelv connected by said draw bar.

3. The combination with two railway vehicles to be connected, eachprovided with a vertical draw bar pin and upper, intermediate and lowerapertured parts through which said pin'passes and which providesbearings for upper, lower and intermediate portions of the pin, and apair of coupling parts each pivotally connected at its opposite ends tothe two draw bar pins, one of said coupling parts being received betweenthe upper and intermediate apertured parts and the other between theintermediate and lower apertured parts of each vehicle, the lowerapertured part of each vehicle having provisions engaging the lowerportion of the corresponding draw bar pin to prevent downward movementof the pin.

4:. The combination with an engine hav ing a foot plate provided with adrawbar pocket and beneath the drawbar pocket with a pocket forreceiving the end of a safety bar and formed with alined through thewalls oi? said pockets F- drawbar pin, and a tender having dr bar pocketmember formed with a drav bar pocket proper and beneath the latter witha pocket to receive the end of a safety bar, formed also with alinedpassages through the walls of said pockets for a drawba" pin,

of a drawbar having its ends received in the i.

drawbar pockets oi said foot plate and memher and having apertsres inits ends to re ceive the drawbar pins and a safety bar having its endsreceived in the lower pockets of said foot plate and drawbar pocketmember,'and having apertures in its ends to receive said drawbar pins,and drawbar mounted in said passages and passing through said apertures,the apertures said bars being so relatively arranged as to pre vent thesafety bar from being put under tension so long as the drawbar forms anoperative connection between the engine and tender.

5. The combination with an engine having a foot plateprovided with adrawbar pocket and beneath the drawbar pocket with a pocket forreceiving the end of a safety bar and formed with alined passagesthrough the walls of said pockets fora drawbar pin, and a tender havinga drawbar pocket member formed with a drawbar pocket proper and beneaththe latter with a pocket to receive the end of a safety bar, and

formed also with alined passages through the walls of said pockets for adrawbar pin,

of a drawbar having its ends received in the drawbar pockets of saidfoot plate and member and having apertures in its ends to receive thedrawbar pins, and a safety bar 20 mounted in said passages and passing25 through said apertures, and means for retaining the lower portions ofthe drawbar pins in case of rupture of upper portionsof said pins.

HARRY A. HOKE.

